Personal musings on Israel, Jewish matters, history and how they all affect each other

Sunday, December 19, 2010

China and Jerusalem

As you'll have noticed, I'm not finding the time for blogging these days. Maybe things will improve, assuming we know what would pose an improvement.

In the meantime, however, Victor has been watching Al-Jazeera in Arabic, more elbow power to him, I'd say. He recently came across a story there about how the Chinese are edging toward a position on Jerusalem that would dismay Europeans and the Obama administration if only they, too, were watching Al-Jazeera in Arabic. Says Victor: the Chinese are no longer willing to agree with the Arab states that it's important to condemn Israel over its policies in Jerusalem.

I don't know what the story really was, and even less what it means, if it means anything at all. I do find it plausible that as China and India rise, they may forge their own narratives about the world; since neither place has any deep-rooted traditions relating to the Jews, this may turn out to be a good thing.

I also know that my older son is studying Mandarin at Tel Aviv University, and he tells me he's got hundreds of classmates; apparently, many young Israelis are preparing careers predicated on going eastwards rather than westwards. This can't be a bad thing.

for the not Germanically challenged or those who feel up to the mysteria of Google translate here is a link to a German book on the guy with a must read extensive blurb on the man. Wikipedia has to offer not much but the German one leaves one a lot less in doubt about the man than the English one.

Your article pointing out that young Israelis are studying Chinese reminds me of the book "Jews God and History" by Max Dimont, where he makes thepoint that either Jews have always moved to where the new economic power is emerging, or, like bees pollinating flowers, they are the small but necessary pollinator of the new economic growth in those countries.

The Chinese have their own problems now with the Moslems, and although we often hear about the 1B Moslems, it's worth remembering that there are a billion or so Chinese and about half a billion non-Moslem Indians who have problems with Islam and are likely to view Israel far more favorably than the supine Western powers.

how can china, which has occupied tibet longer than israel has occupied the west bank, uses slave labor, and gets away with human rights violations on a daily basis....honestly condemn israel for anything it does?

they will end up holding an opposing view because it is politically expedient

I think the connection, aside from the Jews' (and Israelis') adoration of Chinese kreplach (aka "dim sum"), etc., is really and truly one of empathy.

The interest and curiosity of one ancient culture towards another?

Well, perhaps.

Much more likely, though, is since (most) Israelis feel profoundly the existential threat posed by their neighbors' pre-occupation with the concept of "Palestine from the River to the Sea", so can Israelis empathize with China's deep-seated (and so very real) fears of the existential threat posed to it by Tibet.

(And what can unite two nations more than a mutual appreciation of food together with the savorings of an existential threat?)